Masdar City, world's first sustainable city

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

Masdar City is just currently now a huge construction site, but soon it will be a sustainable city, and it will be the first one in the world.
Masdar City is located outside the city Abu Dhabi in the country United Arab Erimates at the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Masdar City will also be a city without cars, it will have an another transportation.
The city is being built by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company.
Instead of cars, the city will have PRT cars, or podcars

This is how the city will look like when it is completed. Estimated completion is in 2025


Video Tour of Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, January 2012

James Cameron visiting Masdar City
James Cameron - Masdar City Visit

Masdar: The City of the Future | Fully Charged

[Tìtstewan]

Wow! Now they build houses with solarpanels.
And from an older documentary I know: Abu Dhabi have a lots of sun, but no one solarpanels.
Now this has changed.

The transport system would be interesting.

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

Wow! Now they build houses with solarpanels.
And from an older documentary I know: Abu Dhabi have a lots of sun, but no one solarpanels.
Now this has changed.

The transport system would be interesting.

The PRT cars will be given energy from solar panels, and that is really good
The whole city will work on solar panels. I wonder if they also could make windows that is solar-panel like. That they are installing some solar cell chips in windows on buildings. I think that most all cities in the world should do it.

That could at least shut down all coal-fired power plants and nuclear power plants. Think how much money we will spare, a lot of money. Not only the economy will be better, but also the environment and the daily life, and also the future.

[Tìtstewan]

Well, they have to build for the future. Oil will ending.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

that is truly an impressive-- and interesting-- project. The architecture is almost like a modern version of old mideastern cities, with the narrow streets. The passive and active cooling systems are truly innovative.

But how sustainable is 'sustainable'. The city can generate all its needed energy, recycle water, etc. But can they grow their own food, or make it from waste? This is part of the UN definition of 'sustainable' intheir Agenda 21 plan. It has most people being pretty much forced to become vegetarians. I would not survive.

I also don't know if I would enjoy living in a place like that. I lived in the city center of Rochester, NY for a couple of years. It was OK, but certainly not 'great'. There was considerably more open urban space there than there is in Masdar City. There was also much greenery, as Rochester is an area that naturally promotes greenery. Where I live now is not very 'green' from a greenery point of view. But I am surrounded with natural flora and fauna, despite being close to the infrastructure of a city. I have enough space there, that I never feel like I am encroaching on my neighbors (and vice versa).

Its great to see the Arab people using their great wealth to try an experiment like this. Why not US companies trying something like this in the 'states? (Perhaps there are not too many spots with enough insolation to make something like this work.

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

Seems like they have got a problem there in Masdar City.

In 2012, last year, Masdar released 20,000 tons of CO2. It came from the construction of it's facilities
The remainder came from the company's operations, according to the report, which covers the 12-month period up to and including September 2012. As this is the first sustainability report Masdar has released there are no earlier figures available for comparison purposes.

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2013/01/15/masdar-sustainability-report-almost-27000-tons-of-co2-released/

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Because CO2 is the natural end product of combustion and biological oxidation, its release is inevitable. All food production creates CO2, some kinds more than others (thus the limitation on raising meat in Agenda 21). Current construction practices release CO2, but that is a one-time occurrence per structure.

You can counter CO2 production by using plants. It is also theoretically possible to use photovoltaic power to create hydrocarbon fuels + oxygen from CO2.

From a political standpoint, reducing CO2 emissions is being used by environmental groups to stifle economic growth, as the only way to reduce CO2 emissions (assuming that energy production is already efficient) is to limit energy production. The radical environmentalists are far more interested in controlling society than protecting the environment.

[Niri Te]

I am so glad that I don't have TOO many more years before I get my PCS orders,  and am no longer PART of any society on this Fire Base.